Ramblings-n-Writings

A couple of week’s back, Cyndi at Modern Christian Homestead wrote a post about publishing your writing. She touched on e-publishing and self-publishing your work. Some of her points prompted some thoughts in my mind that I wanted to share as far as using a traditional publishing house vs. self-publishing.

While I have never been through the publishing process as an author, my bachelor’s degree is in publishing, and I have worked as a freelance editor and designer for quite a few years. If I author a book in the future, my personal preference would be to use a traditional publisher. I’ll explain why after we review the publishing process.

No matter the size or the affiliation of the publisher, the traditional publishing process is still the same as years ago. Manuscripts are submitted, some are accepted, and some are rejected. Upon acceptance, contracts are formed and the book enters the editorial process. To me, this is one of the most critical points in the process, and perhaps the lengthiest. The manuscript is reviewed for accuracy, facts and sources are checked, logic and comprehension are addressed, and suggestions are made for improvement.

Following a review by an editor, the manuscript is handed over to a copyeditor, who reviews the grammar, queries questionable sentence structure and organizational problems, and makes the manuscript as perfect as possible. Typically, once the copyediting is complete, two to three rounds of proofreading follow.

Next, the manuscript enters the design stage. At this point, authors get a feel for what the interior pages of the book will look like. More than likely, cover design is going on simultaneously. Once layout is finished, the book is returned to editorial for another round of proofreading. (The purpose of proofreading at this stage is to make sure none of text was lost in layout and to search for widows and orphans within the chapters – mainly cosmetic details.)

During the entire process, the author is kept abreast of changes and required to approve various stages. Not long after the manuscript enters the publishing process, the marketing department develops a plan for advertising and promotion of the new book.

By the time the book has reached the printing press, the contents have been scrutinized by at least five different sets of eyes – editor, copyeditor, two proofreaders, designer, proofreader – all who are professionals at what they do.

Personally, the value of having five different people read my work for mistakes outweighs the “ease” of self-publishing. I could hire an editor, I could submit my work to a critique group, I could ask friends to read. However, if there is any sort of personal relationship with any of the people involved, I would question their honesty. Not that I think people would lie, but our human nature is to tell others that their writing is great…even if we didn’t like it or had problems understanding parts. It’s kind of like the commercial about adoption where the mother gives the daughter the hideous sweatshirt with the embellished butterflies, sequins and flowers. The daughter has to pretend to like it because she doesn’t want to offend the mother. Those we know may not be completely honest; however, the people working at the publishers usually aren’t our friends and get paid to be honest.

Now, please understand when I referred to the “ease” of self-publishing, I wasn’t saying that the self-publishing process is easy. In fact, I think it is a much harder road than traditional publishing, especially for those who enter it naively. Tackling the writing, the editing, the production process, the marketing by yourself = work. To those who have a very loyal following, such as a self-help guru or a big-name evangelist / preacher, self-publishing may work simply because of the already established customer base. However, for the average author, the few books that are sold to family and friends won’t even begin to cover the costs of printing, let alone provide a profit.

So besides potential marketing issues, what are some of the difficulties with self-publishing? Read those here!